Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1887-12-02
IMPORTANT RAILROAD NEWS.
Improvement and Increase of Passenger
Service-ImmeDse Rush of Travel.

Serv1c6-lmmeDB6 huSn OF travel
rs F. Examiner, December LIST.
The improvement in the passenger serv-
ice that has been made on the overland
roads is marked. Only few weeks ago
the same accommodations were being given
passengers that they had been furnished
with for years past. Now changes and i'm
proyements are the order of the day. The
best feature is that the competing lines, in
their rivalry, are liable to provide more
luxurious sleeping-cars and coaches and
better facilities in every respect than they
have before given. Already between this
city and Chicago two daily passenger trains
have been put On by the Central ana Union
Pacific They are making fast time and
the expense of running them is over $1,000
a day. Next Sunday the Burlington and
Denver and Rio Grande put on competing
fast trains between Ogden and Chicago.
This will virtually give Denver four daily
through trains to Chicago. Portland, Ia
coma and Seattle have also gained some
advantage from Potter and Towne's fast
train movement, for the Northern Pacific
was forced to give its passengers faster time
to and from ST. Paul and Chicago The
same can be said of the Southern Pacific
line via New Orleans and Cincinnati to the
far Eastern cities, and it is only question
of few weeks when the Santa Fe, BY
California line, will be speeding its trains
over the continent al fast rate TO both this
city and Los Angeles.
THROUGH PULLMAN CARS.
With this movement has come a through
Pullman service. For some time the Santa
Fe has been running its sleepers through
from Kansas City to Los Angeles and back.
Now the Southern, Central and Union Pa
ciic are to run their Pullman cars clear
through in both directions between Los
Angeles, this city and Omaha and between
Omaha and Portland the Union Pacific will
also run through sleepers. Another late
change is the checking of baggage across
the continent. 1t is already being checked
through from New York here, and lust as
soon as General Passenger Agent Goodman
returns home through checks will be issued
from this coast as far as the Atlantic coast.
Following on the heels of these changes,
comes the announcement that through
tourist rate is to be given the people living
east of Chicago. This is something entirely
new, for heretofore regular rates had to be
paid, unless advantage was taken of such
arrangement as Raymond and Whitcomb,
the excursion agents, offered which not
only included railroad fare, but hotel
charges and the like. Just what the rate
will be has not yet been given out. From
Chicago the round-trip rate has always been
$50, from st. Louis $72 and from the Mis-
souri, river $50. But as from to-day on the
latter rate is to go up to $50, the Chicago
and St. Louis rate will also be raised to
probably 800 and $92 respectively. So
from this it is reasonable to expect that the
round-trip rate from New York, Boston
and other cities will be considerably over
500.
CROKER AND ToWNE TALK
1t was on this general subject of the de-
velopment of the overland train service
that Colonel Fred. Crocker and General
Manager a. n. Towne, of the Southern Pa
cific, were chatting in the formers office
yesterday afternoon when representative
| of this paper was invited in.
The passenger and freight traffic to CAL
ifornia is SON ething unheard of" said Mr..
Towne. was down in Los Angeles the
other day, and saw sixteen carloads of
household goods with that number of fam
lies come in one train from Nebraska, and
| remember one of the Immigrants told me
that he brought along 420 chickens. This
is an illustration of the way immigration
is coming here"
. Yes, we can notice it very plainly"
said Colonel Croker, taking up the CONVEX
sation. " 1t has not been more than few
days ago since we put two daily trains on
between here and Los Angeles and be-
tween this city and Ogden. Yet they are
| overcrowded. l think we may be COM
PEELED to put on third daily train to Los
Angeles from here shortly"
= 1t looks that way" said Mr.. Towne
"As to putting on third daily overland
| train to Ogden" Mr.. Croker went on to
say, sit is hard to tell what to do. We find
| it necessary to run one of the two present
trains in sections, and if the tourists keep
coming it is hard to say where our train
service will stop"
| Last spring it would have been i'm
possible for us to predict the business we
are now handling with the other overland
lines. Of course, something of an increase
was expected but not what it has turned
out to be: If during last spring we had
given orders for the rolling stock that we
have now given instructions for, railroad
people would have considered us Eighty.
l know there is a good deal of complaint
about freight being DELAYED, bat under Or
binary circumstances railroad officials
could not be expected to have foreseen the
rush. We are doing all that is possible to
bring the traffic on the way here as fast as
possible. 70 do so we find that all trains
have virtually TO be Iun on special time.
In fact, we have almost discarded our regu-
lar time card for freight trains, and with
each of these trains going East we sent two
| crews, one to rest on the trip East so as to
immediately bring back freight train on